Concerta vs. Daytrana Patch?

So my son is doing GREAT on his Concerta, however, once it wears off, which is usually around 4pm, he's back to his "normal" self. With summer coming up we'll have lot "night activties" that will require more of his attention. So I spoke with his Ped about he said he could put him on the patch, because it starts when you put it on and it ends when you take it off? My thinking is to keep him on Concerta til the school year is over and then try the patch to see if it lasts longer? Will it be exactly the same? He does so well on Concerta it just doesn't last long enough!

Comments (11)

how old is your son?..bryan was on the patch it is suppose to last 9 hours then you take it off and lasts 3 more..I found it lasted bryan about 10 maybe 11 hours total...

since the concerta is working so well i wouldnt want to switch..but ask the dr for a short acting med for the afternoons when he has night activities..short acting ritilan is what bryan has been on alot and is on now at times whne the metadate wears off it lasts about 4 hours...

He's 6.5 yers old. I did ask my ped for a "booster" for the evenings, which is what my son's psychologist said was an option. Ped said they would just give him another dose but that may have an effect on his sleep, otherwise there was the patch, which is supposed to be just like Concerta? Issue was, we tried a second dose and the poor baby couldn't sleep all night.

My 10 year old son just started on the patch last week. I've been reading some reviews online about it. I think the con is that it takes 2 hours to take effect so I have to make sure it's on between 6 and 6:30 if I want it to kick in by the time he starts school at 8. It's supposed to work up to 3 hours after it's been removed. I'm really hoping this works out for him. I like that since he's only getting a small dose every hour, he's more lively and more like himself but just able to control himself better and is able to focus.

My son is on Concerta also. He takes it at 7:30am and you can tell it has worn off by about 5 or 6. He went through a phase where he refused to swallow the pill and we put him on Daytrana. It worked amazing for the first month and lasted a lot longer than the Concerta (because even after you take the patch off the meds are in him for another 2 to 3 hours) but he started getting burned by the patch. He would have a flaming red, welty, itchy red square where the patch had been and it would not go away for a couple fo days.

If i were you...i would look into just getting a regular ritalin booster to help through the evening.

DD is on the Daytrana patch and it has been wonderful. She went from getting in touble everyday to getting a character award. She does have to have a 5 mg booster in the morning with the patch because it takes so long to take effect on her. (I usually put it on at 6 am and it was not kicking in until 9 0r 10). It works as lot longer and better than Adderall did. Also, we had a lot of trouble getting her to take the Adderall. It took at least an hour every morning even when they were doing it at school. I am not saying she is perfect, she still has her bad days, but it is a drastic improvement!